Luck of the Draw
by Nozomi
Summary: AyaxYohji, KenxOmi [Crossover with Rurouni Kenshin] A mission gone horribly, horribly wrong. Four souls forced to a time and place they should not be. The chaos that ensues. And it was all Yohji's fault. According to Aya, anyway.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own them, and I seriously doubt you do. All's fine, then? ^.^  
  
-----  
  
~Even if I love you so much that I shatter myself,  
Not even a third of it gets across to you.  
These innocent emotions run around in circles,  
It can't even say I love you...  
My heart...~  
-"1/3 Pure-hearted Emotions", Rurouni Kenshin  
  
  
  
The mission was simple enough; do a bit of background research, then kill some bad guys. The usual, easy kind of mission, no strings attached.  
  
What none of them had counted on was that Mr. Steele, the person they were sent to kill, was *beyond* crazy. Fanatical, even. A crazed whacko, as Yohji deftly put it.  
  
So when heavy steel doors slammed down around them, locking all four of the Weiss group into the small room with the crazy man with the old book, along with the thirty or so bodies of guards they had just killed, they all began to feel just a twinge of anxiety.  
  
"Shit! What the hell's he doing?!" Yohji cursed, jade gaze darting around uncertainly. The lights had blacked out the instant that those doors had fallen, and he didn't enjoy the feeling of blindness one bit.  
  
"It doesn't matter." Came Aya's deeper voice, and the blonde's ears caught the slight sound of metal sliding from it's wooden sheathe. "He will die."  
  
Yeah, like he hadn't heard *that* one before.  
  
"Yeah? Well, I don't think even *you* could accomplish that in the... dark?" his voice trailed off as a strange, unearthly blue light emerged from the ancient text in their target's hands. "... What the hell?" A sudden, bitingly cold wind swept around them, ruffling his hair and sending errant blonde strands to catch on his moistened lips.  
  
"Siberian!" came Omi's distracted cry, and two sets of sharp eyes darted towards the figure brandishing the old book, and the shadowed form lurking behind him. The shadowed form wearing the ugly yellow sweater around its waist.  
  
The shadowed form who's arm was dripping with blood, the crimson drops falling from lax fingertips to splatter upon the ebony floor, all sound of their passage drowned out by the roaring of the wind around the small room.  
  
A maniacal laugh from their target, eyes gleaming with some demonic inner light; thankfully, Omi hadn't given out his fellow assassins' position with his outburst. Ken may well have been their best bet on completing the job effectively and efficiently, as the harsh whipping of air around their bodies kept the other three from moving forward without intense effort.  
  
"Soon the world will bow to me!" a deep, harsh voice, echoing around them all. "I will release the spirits of the Otherworld unto my command," Ken brought his left hand up, bugnuks at the ready and smirk affixed on his confident face, about to strike this maniac down for good, "and so it shall begin!"  
  
A burst, a propelling of wild blue, pulsing energy from the longhaired target, and Ken was thrown back effortlessly, landing some feet away with a brutal jarring up his aching body. His body's instinctive groan of protest was lost even to him in lieu of the rushing in his ears, and his eyes slipped closed as if by their own will.  
  
"Siberian!" Again Omi, note of worry evident in his tone as his hands searched frantically for his crossbow, which had been knocked out of his hands a few moments earlier. It was to no avail, however, for the weapon had skid across the room at that blast of energy, much out of the youth's reach.  
  
"This guy's insane!" Yohji muttered. A glance at the kid showed that he was going to be no help, and Aya's sword was always intended for close-range combat only. It was up to him. He hated when it was up to him.  
  
With one easy flick of the wrist, he let his garroting wire fly, aimed right for their target. The blonde had forgotten, however, of how the wind would affect the flight; only just slightly, but still enough to screw them all over. The wire plunged just short of its destination, scraping across the open page of the tome- and catching on a miniscule tear in it, ripping a small hole in the text.  
  
Yohji could have sworn that the small scrap of paper blinked a strange, deep purple light, before it suddenly burst into black flames- an ominous warning.  
  
"You fools!" that commanding, resounding voice. "You have no idea what you have done! The balance is off! You have destroyed a crucial portion of the spell!" those wild, black eyes were wide in rage and barely suppressed fear. "All is lost..."  
  
The eerie blue light grew brighter, more intense, and their target gasped in pain, collapsing to the ground, the book falling from his lax fingers as his eyes rolled back into his head.  
  
Then, a burst of light so blinding it hurt, and the sensation of falling. Four consecutive, clear sounds, like ringing bells, that faded to the gentle roaring of surf on the beach.  
  
Darkness.  
  
-----  
  
"The Tokaido road is up ahead, and it's a straight path to Tokyo from there," Misao was explaining, eyes alight with some inborn happiness. The five of them had already walked for days since leaving the inn in Hokone, and it had been even longer since Ryuzaburo Higashiyama, the student of Western painting, had presented Kaoru with the finished portrait he had done of her. She hadn't even looked at it since then, just carried it comfortably in her clasped arms, smiling ever so slightly.  
  
"Let's split up there," the braided girl finished, and Kenshin glanced at her with knowing eyes.  
  
"It looks like Misao-dono is getting homesick for Kyoto now de gozaru na," he acknowledged, knowing the girl was probably missing the presence of her grandfather quite a bit. She smiled at him.  
  
"Missie," Sanosuke began, gaze sliding over to the cloth-wrapped package in Kaoru's hands. Everyone else did the same, looking very much interested. "I've been wonderin' about that painting all this time..." he trailed off suggestively, but Kaoru didn't even spare a glance at the tall fighter.  
  
"Don't..." was her simple reply. "I'm looking forward to opening it when we get back to Tokyo."  
  
"Don't be so cheap and show us!" Yahiko demanded vehemently, eyes narrowing in annoyance. The ugly witch could really be stubborn when she wanted to be...  
  
"I want to see it, too!" Misao exclaimed enthusiastically, raising her hand in agreement.  
  
"Oh, all right..." Kaoru agreed at last, tossing her head a bit at everyone's persistence. Her tone was so happy as to almost be sugary-sweet. "Maybe just a peek..."  
  
Handing the precious bundle to Kenshin, she backed off and posed a bit, hands clasped in front of her and smiling brightly. She wanted the others to be able to compare.  
  
Slowly, the redheaded swordsman pulled the cloth away from the painting, revealing the long-awaited scene...  
  
Silence.  
  
Kaoru gave a happy little expectant tittering laugh, blush tinting her cheeks. "He said the title was 'The Smile of a Goddess.' Does it look like me?" she could barely contain her excitement, and her eyes danced.  
  
Dead silence.  
  
"Kaoru-dono..." Kenshin swiftly thrust the painting back into her hands.  
  
"Eh? Done already?" she blinked at him as he began backing up, pained expression on his scarred face.  
  
"Sano, Yahiko, we should hurry on our way," Kenshin announced nervously, turning and running. Sanosuke, Yahiko and Misao were not far behind the redhead, funny little smirks on their faces. They were laughing outright as they retreated.  
  
"What's wrong, guys?" the dark-haired martial artist watched them go, puzzled, still not glancing at the painting. "What's the rush?" she looked down, and her eyes widened, a choked gasp escaping her.  
  
The picture was twisted, a scene of fractured colors and sight that didn't look a thing like her. So *that's* what they had been- "W-W-What is this?!"  
  
"'The Smile of a Goddess?'" Sanosuke was laughingly demanding, glancing at Kenshin, who was trying to keep from laughing, himself, and failing miserably. "That makes me laugh."  
  
"Sano, that's a bit rude to Kaoru-dono de gozaru yo," the redhead admonished, smirking in spite of himself.  
  
"As you say that, Himura, you're laughing as much as you can yourself!" Misao cried out through fits of giggles. "My stomach hurts from laughing!"  
  
Tears were flowing freely from Yahiko's eyes. "In the end, that's just Kaoru's character!"  
  
"You don't have to laugh so much about it!" Kaoru cried, long hair trailing behind her as she raced after them, painting still tightly clutched in her hands. "Wait *up*!"  
  
"Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin yelled over his shoulder, trying to calm down the irritated woman. "Please, listen-" he broke suddenly off then, skidding to a stop in a short instant. His heartbeat sped up and he was instantly serious, eyes darting around cautiously as his hand took its all-too-familiar place, hovering over the hilt of his sword. Seeing his sudden pause, the others stopped as well, instinctively huddling just that much closer to him. Kaoru had virtually forgotten the painting in her hands as she approached the short swordsman.  
  
"Kenshin?" she began tentatively, and he spared a blue-violet glance her way, still on guard.  
  
"There seems to be someone here with us de gozaru yo," he explained simply, thought he couldn't quite figure out where these intruders would be hiding. He could just feel it, a tangible presence at the back of his mind.  
  
And then it spoke.  
  
~What the hell? ... Where am I? What happened? Where's Aya? The others?~  
  
Something clouded and hazy settled over his mind, and, for once in his life, he was powerless to stop this foreign entity. It created some sort of barrier between himself and his body, and suddenly he couldn't control his muscles. He vaguely found himself watching with eyes he couldn't move as his body collapsed to the ground, seeing both Yahiko and Sanosuke do the same out of the corner of his eye.  
  
No...  
  
"Kenshin! Sano! Yahiko! What's wrong!?"  
  
Kaoru-dono...  
  
-----  
  
Nothing. He was floating in a void of nothingness. *They* were.  
  
And then... something. Something warm and alive and somehow familiar, on guard for trouble but not for him.  
  
~What the hell? ... Where am I? What happened? Where's Aya? The others?~  
  
~*Who are...?*~  
  
Something! Something wasn't nothing, right? Something wasn't nothingness. Something was a thing to cling to.  
  
~*No... Kaoru-dono...*~  
  
A name.  
  
He didn't know.  
  
*****  
  
So. Comments?  
  
Most of that Kenshin part was taken from the end of episode 78, which is about the time this story is set, and the last episode I've seen so far. From here, it will become TWT (Timeline What Timeline), and most likely a bit AU-ish as well, not counting the whole 'different minds in their bodies' thing. Also, keep in mind that there is a big gaping hole in my knowledge of the Rurouni Kenshin world- I've seen up to about episode 20 when I was half asleep, and episodes 75-78 when I was completely sane. ^.^ I wanted to set this story in this part because I wanted Misao in it; she's my favorite character after Sano-san.  
  
Till Next We Meet,  
Nozomi 


	2. Chapter 1

~A long, sleepless night whispers my feelings for you,  
That is indeed what love means.  
The wavering pulse that speaks to me endlessly  
Turns into a sigh with a slight fever.  
  
Gimme smile and shine day...  
With your smile.  
It's good I can overcome,  
The cold nights that would freeze me...~  
-"1/3 Pure-hearted Emotions", Rurouni Kenshin  
  
  
  
He was warm, and sleepy. What had happened?  
  
Oh, yeah. That crazy wacko, and the messed up spell. Then the endless floating in nothingness, and then- then-  
  
He woke up.  
  
He woke up very suddenly.  
  
Yohji's head hurt. When had he hit his head? He couldn't remember. The steady, melodic chirping of birds from behind the sliding wooden door was kind of nice, though. Soothing, too.  
  
Waitaminute- sliding door? Since when had they rented apartments with sliding doors?  
  
Since never, his still-fuzzy mind supplied helpfully.  
  
Yohji blinked and glanced around warily. Had they been caught? If so, this wasn't much of a holding cell. It would be easy to escape form here. Too easy.  
  
And why would they bother to dress him in these weird, rough clothes? He glanced down. A loose, red-pink shirt with white undershirt, tucked into billowing robes for pants. Who the hell wore such things? He shifted, and something part metal and part wood moved at his side, hitting the wooden floor with a hard *clunk*. A sword.  
  
He gawked at that. Who in their right mind would give *him* a sword? This must be some sort of joke by the others. That, or he was dreaming. Yeah, that must be it. He was dreaming, pretty soon he'd wake up, with Aya hovering over him, admonishing him for being knocked out by that last bit of weirdness before, and Omi trying to make sure he was all right, and he'd smile and joke about it, like he usually did.  
  
A lock of red hair fell into his eyes when he shifted again, and he brushed it away, irritated. Sometimes his hair could be very annoying...  
  
Pause.  
  
... Red?  
  
He did *not* have red hair.  
  
Heart speeding up, he reached upwards, catching hold of one hunk of bang and pulling it straight, long enough so that he could see it. Yep, it was red, all right. And longer than it was supposed to be, he noticed dully, brain suddenly computing the odd weight against his back as a loose ponytail. Red hair and a sword. What, was someone mistaking him for Aya, or something? Of course not; even *Aya*- the "I'll-Do-Anything-For-Money", "Don't-Touch-Me-I'll-Hurt-You. Badly" Aya he knew- had the good fashion sense not to wear something even remotely like what he was currently dressed in.  
  
He was handling this situation quite well, he thought vaguely after a moment of intense-though-confusing thought process. Very well, indeed. Why, there was nothing to worry about, he just had red hair. And a sword. And the hard floor was digging rather painfully into his butt-  
  
The door slid open.  
  
"Kenshin- Oh, you're awake!"  
  
"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!"  
  
So much for handling it well.  
  
-----  
  
Ken tentatively opened his eyes, assessing the damage to his body. He remembered being seriously injured by that last attack, and then falling into a kind of half-faint, where he was floating in nothingness. Had they made it? Was the mission finished?  
  
His hand was bandaged, he could tell that much, and there were also bandages around his ribs, though neither place on his body hurt at the moment. Probably the work of Omi. The kid was like that; always the worrier. That meant that they were somewhere safe, right?  
  
His clothes weren't right; they were white instead of the usual dark tones he preferred, and there was some sort of cloth strip wrapped around his head, but not in the manner of a bandage. There was something odd about all this. It was unnerving.  
  
"Feeling any better?" came a light, high voice; a girl's voice. The heart-shaped face of said female popped into his line of vision suddenly, smile bright and long braid trailing behind her almost to the floor, though her eyes were a bit worried. "Kaoru-san and myself were a bit worried when you three collapsed like that, but everything appears to be fine with you." She waved a hand in front of his face, the leaned closer until their noses were almost touching, examining his eyes.  
  
Who was this girl? He knew her, somehow...  
  
"Weasel girl...?" *that* slipped out before he could even think about it, and the dark-haired girl's face darkened the tiniest bit as she backed up.  
  
"My name is Misao, you idiot!" she admonished, though the attempt was only half-hearted.  
  
"'Misao'?" there was something wrong with his voice, though he couldn't tell exactly what. It was almost-... deeper? Was that it?  
  
"Yes, Makimachi Misao, you've known me long enough, you should be able to remember something so simple, Sanosuke!"  
  
"Sanosuke...?"  
  
She gave him an odd look, then. "Are you sure you're all right? What exactly happened back there? You, Yahiko AND Himura just collapsed on the road. It was a lot of hard work for me and Kaoru-san to drag you guys all the way back to the Dojo. You're just lucky it wasn't too far." She gave him a warning glance that held no real contempt, then smiled again and stood up. "Well, I better go check on Yahiko now. Kaoru-san is putting up with Himura, so you'll be alone for awhile. Unless you'd rather I sent Megumi-san in?" she practically leered at him, but all he could do was stare blankly at this girl who was making no sense at all.  
  
"Um... Megumi? No, I'll be fine." He didn't know who this 'Megumi' person was, but he didn't like the look this Misao girl was giving him at the mention of that name. Better to chance it, especially considering it would give him more time to figure just what the hell was going on without making anyone he didn't know, but who curiously seemed to know *him*, suspicious.  
  
"Ok, then, I'll just-" the braided girl was suddenly and completely cut off by a loud, high-pitched yell that sounded vaguely familiar to Ken, though he hadn't ever heard the voice before in his life. He was instantly, instinctively on his feet, barely noticing how tall he suddenly was, running after the shorter girl with hurried footsteps, down twisted hallways that all looked the same. Ken had no idea how he was going to get back to the room he'd started in, but right now it was the least of his immediate worries.  
  
Misao finally stopped short at another door, in front of which stood a shocked-looking woman with longish dark hair and a tray full of medicinal supplies in her hands. She was staring rather blankly at something apparently inside of the room.  
  
"Himura?" Misao demanded tentatively, peeking in through the open door just as another person joined them, running up to him, breath coming in quick pants of air. Ken turned to see a rather short boy with wild, spiky black hair, who was clutching a wooden sword protectively in his hands. There was something familiar about this boy; not in the way he looked, but in his stance, and something in the idea of him, like a transparent image. Something teasing at the back of his awareness...  
  
Then it clicked, and Ken's eyes widened.  
  
"Omi?!" he demanded incredulously, and the boy looked up at him strangely, dark eyes puzzled.  
  
"Do I know-... Ken-kun?!" the shorter boy smiled when Ken nodded, looking relieved. "Thank god! I was afraid I was the only one stuck in this place."  
  
"Yeah, me too." He grinned a lazy grin at the shorter boy, then a thought seemed to jump out at him. "Hey, you aren't yourself, though. And I suspect, neither am I, though I haven't gotten a chance to get a good look."  
  
Omi grinned. "Yeah, here they call me Yahiko, and you'd probably be Sanosuke, right?" the taller youth nodded. "But what's happening? What was that loud yell I heard?" Omi's eyes darted towards the door.  
  
"I'm not sure, but it might be someone Misao called 'Himura'."  
  
"Himura Kenshin." Omi nodded. "Megumi was talking about him. Apparently he's a very good swordsman."  
  
They exchanged glances, trying to decide if the other was thinking what they were thinking.  
  
"Aya?"  
  
-----  
  
"Himura! You're awake!" a hyper looking girl burst into the room, smiling at Yohji, who was crouching in the corner, hand nervously positioned over the hilt of the sword at his waist. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all.  
  
"Hai de gozaru yo." He replied warily, not noticing the odd little slip of the tongue. "Where am I, may I ask?"  
  
The girl blinked at him, face falling just a bit. "Why, you're acting as silly as Sano, Himura! You're back in the Kamiya Dojo, don't you recognize it? Or did you really hit your head that hard?"  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Yohji spotted the head of a young boy peek through the open doorway, where that girl with the tray from before still stood, motionless.  
  
"Aya-kun? Is that you? Do you perhaps know where Yohji-kun is?"  
  
"I AM Yohji." He stated sullenly, recognizing the lilt in that voice for Omi. The boy's eyes widened, and his mouth fell slightly open.  
  
"Wait a minute! What's going on here?" the girl with the braid demanded, glancing between him and Omi. "Who is 'Yohji'."  
  
"*I* am Yohji."  
  
"No, you're Himura."  
  
"No, I'm Yohji."  
  
"Himura."  
  
"Yohji."  
  
"Himura."  
  
"Yohji, in Himura's body de gozaru yo!" he blinked, frowning at that last part. Why was he talking like that all of a sudden?  
  
The girl blinked at him, silent for a moment, then she turned to the other woman. "Kaoru-san? Do you know what is going on?"  
  
"Um... I may have a theory about it." Omi-in-Yahiko's-body piped up, and the braided girl- Ken had said her name was Misao- looked at him.  
  
"Yahiko? Or are you not him, either?" she glanced at Ken, "And Sano? You didn't seem like yourself."  
  
Omi nodded. "It seems, somehow, that when Yohji-kun destroyed part of the spell that our target was enacting, it created something totally different, sending us- or, in this case, our souls- to this place, and into these particular bodies."  
  
"Target?" the dark-haired woman, Kaoru, demanded, sending a furtive glance Yohji's way, some strange emotion in her dark eyes.  
  
"Yes. We four are what you would call assassins, in our own lives, anyway. Usually, we would not let anyone know about that particular aspect of our lives, but it seems you two have the right to know, since we have yet to determine how long we will be here, and I doubt it will affect us in our normal lives."  
  
It was very odd, having Yahiko speak like that, so respectfully. The boy glanced at Misao. "There are three of us here. Perhaps you have an idea where the fourth of our group may be?"  
  
The braided girl shook her head slowly, thoughtfully. "No. There are no more guys around here."  
  
Omi looked vexed. "But Aya-kun-"  
  
"I'm right here."  
  
"Aoshi-sama!" Misao cried gleefully when her eyes alighted upon the figure that had just entered the room from the other door. The figure with the sword clutched tightly in his hands. Yohji swallowed roughly, not liking the look in this 'Aoshi's' eyes; the intense, murderous look- directed at him.  
  
"A-Aya?"  
  
"This is your fault, Kudou."  
  
That was all the warning he got.  
  
-----  
  
"So, we're stuck here for the moment?" Ken asked Omi, absently watching Aya chase Yohji around the room, the redheaded swordsman (not Aya, the other one) running as if his life depended on it. And with an angry Aya, it just might have.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to de gozaru!"  
  
"Aoshi-sama, what are you doing?!"  
  
"It seems so. That spell was the one that put us here, and, until we can find another spell, or a way out, there's no way we can leave. From what I've gathered, we are now in about the late 17th century or so. But it doesn't exactly mean that we are in our own world."  
  
"So, what are you saying? That we're either in the past, or another dimension entirely?" Ken demanded, a bit put off. Omi swept a gaze towards Aya and Yohji, then turned and looked at him, face set.  
  
"Yes. It's definitely one of those choices."  
  
*****  
  
Well, some OOCness, but this is my first fic that is almost purely humor, so it's how it's supposed to be, and it will stay that way. ^.^ This is just a fun little thing I'm writing, not anything serious like my other fics. Yet. ^.^ We'll get into the whole 'you're in my body; get out!' thing soon, where the real owners of these particular bodies awaken; right now, they're sorta asleep at the moment. *evil giggle* And none of the Weiss boys suspect a thing. They'll find out soon enough...  
  
Nozomi 


End file.
